There are some things that need to be in black and white. Graveyards are one of them.

Got access to Friar’s Bush Graveyard in Belfast a few weeks back. It’s the oldest graveyard in Belfast. These days it’s locked and access is typically by request only. The light was poor, but it was still a spooky place to visit.

I find it’s worth looking at these sort of places for photographs. It’s maybe a little morbid, but I guess fi you treat the place with respect and follow the simple rule of “leave no trace” then it’s not so bad. And I’m sure the ghosts enjoy a break from the monotony…

The Lagan Sessions is now on summer hiatus. I’d only ever intended to go once or twice to try my hand at taking photographs in a gig setting. Instead, I found I was drawn back there week after week for the people and the music.

Every single artist I photographed over the course of the thing (something like 30 different acts) was friendly and willing to let me take their photograph while they played. As a result I learned more about low light photography than I ever could have achieved elsewhere. It’s true that if you speak to someone who’s passionate about their hobby/profession they’ll be only to happy to share it with you.

Gig photography is different, light is only one of the many things you don’t control. Instead you have to work within the bounds of the setup finding light where you can and angles which work to complement the singer and the environment (who’s idea was it to put a red fire extinguisher at the side of the stage?). You also need to be conscious people are there to see and hear the musician, not stare at your ass or watch you run around in front of the stage.

I’ve given a lot of the musicians copies of the photographs I took of them. Certainly anybody who has turned up in the Flickr album is welcome to their photographs. Some I’m not so happy with for technical reasons, others I really love, but every single one of them was a result of the musician being absolutely brilliant.

The Lagan Sessions – I went for the photography, but stayed for the music.

Apologies if you passed by recently and the site wasn’t here. It seems I was the victim of a “hack”. I’m sure it must have been to do with my political views on the middle east, or my pro-something stance. Hell, maybe it was someone making a comment on my photographs!

Another trip to Townhouse last night and yet again another great opportunity to photograph a professional model. Sandra was fantastic, able to take direction and generally make stuff up when I got flustered.

It was also the first time I got to use my new camera in a proper lighting session and I have to say I’m quite happy with the results. There are a few things I need to work out and be a little more comfortable with, but time and practice is what’s needed.

I’ve also started thinking it might be time to actually organise a studio night with the owner directly. The evenings are great, but I find I spend a lot of time copying other photographers poses and I’d like to get experience tweaking the lighting to suit the shot I want. Mind you, I’m still terrified I’ll run out of ways to pose or light the model 10 minutes in to a several hour session!

That said, it’s great to meet other photographers as well. I probably learn as much standing talking and seeing their work as I do talking to the model.

There is one unconsidered downside to these model nights and the new camera is the sheer amount of disk space an image now needs. I took 111 photographs last night and I need to start getting ruthless!

Like I said, I’ve 111 photographs to work though. Expect a few more photographs of Sandra. I might even have a lighting shot.